Adjustments
by emeegee
Summary: The night before the final battle, Simon accepts a little challenge.  SimonxViral, MalexMale, M-rated.


Done as a little project with S. BeeCityz, where we took the same basic starting point and wrote a story for the same pairing, but with different tops. Next time I think I'll definitely write SimonxRossiu, though. After reading at least seventy doujinshi with these two, I'm a bit tired of it.

**THIS CONTAINS MALExMALE. CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED. **Hope it's okay~.**  
><strong>

**Adjustments**

It was dark, and quiet. Viral's footsteps echoed as he meandered through the launch hall, between the massive silhouettes of various Ganmen and Grapearl units. He paused as he reached the huge solemn figure of Gurren Lagann, able to make out its features only by the faint starlight that filtered through one of the high, tiny windows. It was amazing the difference it made, not having a moon. He could make out the shape of the Cathedral Terra, floating in orbit where the satellite would normally be.

Viral turned back to the mecha, eyes moving up over the wild, tooth-baring grin of Gurren to Lagann's stony expression. How many times had that figure haunted his dreams? How many times had he imagined crushing it, felt in his mind the metal tearing and folding in Enki's grasp, seen the looks of horror and disbelief on the faces of the two humans who matched so perfectly the two expressions? Too many times to count, it seemed. And yet…

He couldn't forget the thrill that he had felt the day Simon had asked him to pilot Gurren. And when he had stepped inside the cockpit, taking the seat of a man who had once driven him out of his mind with anger, when he and Simon had together prevented the Earth from being destroyed, Viral had felt an even greater exhilaration seize his nervous system.

Lifting a paw, he traced his fingers over the smooth metal plating of Gurren Lagann's leg. Piloting it, he decided, was much better than destroying it- now, anyway. But it also felt a little like… infidelity. He thought of Enki as he had last seen it- old, damaged, in disrepair and short-circuiting. Enki would be long gone by now, but Viral had piloted it for such a long time. It had been like a second skin, an old friend. He'd be lying if he said he didn't love it. He sighed, letting his arm drop.

"What's the matter? Not good enough for you after all?"

Viral started and swung around to meet the speaker- and froze as he saw Kamina. But that was impossible, Kamina was long gone, and as the man came forward he recognized Simon. But those goggles pushed his hair into familiar spikes, and in the dark that high-collared coat had looked for a moment like a cape… Even now that Viral could see him, it was incredible the resemblance Simon bore to the dead man.

He quickly regained his composure. "Well, you know," he responded, giving a smirk that showed his sharp teeth. "Nothing can compare to my Enki."

The other man hmmed and moved to stand beside him, looking up at the mecha. "It feels like ages ago, doesn't it?" He mused. "That we met." Viral wasn't sure whether Simon was talking to him or to the Ganmen, but he answered anyway.

"Well, it _has_ been seven years," he pointed out. It didn't feel like a terribly long time for him, but then he had lived much longer than any of those humans even before the Spiral King had made him immortal. He was a beastman, after all.

"Yeah…" The blunette touched the metal, much the way Viral had been doing before. "Times really change, don't they? I never thought I'd have to fight for humanity again, let alone the whole planet." He chuckled and cast a sidelong glance at his companion. The beastman still looked quite the vagrant in the tattered, rumpled cloak and long, unkempt hair. He made a mental note to get him a uniform.

Viral smirked at him. "Never thought you'd have _me_ on your side, either, I bet." Simon returned the expression.

"And _you_ never though you'd pilot Gurren. It's been a whole month of firsts, hasn't it?" He grinned. "And it's not over yet, so you'd better get used to this guy." He patted the mecha.

"You can only say that because you've only piloted Lagann your whole life," the beastman shot back, more comfortable with banter than with reminiscing. "Why don't you try hopping into someone else's Ganmen, and see how it is?"

"Nah, I can't do that without asking. And I have a feeling that you wouldn't let me ride Enki if it were still around."

"Tch!" Viral snorted, tossing his head back. Some stupid naked ape, in _my_ Enki? There's no way I'd ever let that happen!" He folded his arms. "Try Gurren, then," he dared. "I bet even that would throw you off."

Simon stared levelly at him for a moment. "Fine," he conceded. "I will." He turned to climb up into the mecha, pulling himself into the cockpit and ignoring the dull throb of nostalgia as he looked at the cockpit's interior. He couldn't go getting all sentimental now, right before the final battle. He steeled himself, and was fine once he had settled in. He grinned and waved down at the beastman as the teeth clamped shut, and before the engine even rumbled to a start he could understand what Viral meant. This cockpit was way more spacious than Lagann, the seat was kind of uncomfortable, and what was with these controls? The handles stretched all the way back along his arms, connecting near his shoulders. It made him feel kind of restricted. Then the visuals popped up and he found himself too low for Gurren Lagann, but too high for just Lagann. Plus, he couldn't see anything above him. He looked over at Viral, who still had his arms folded and was looking at him with expectancy.

"No problem!" Simon declared, sweeping the mecha's arm in a wide gesture that ended with a thumbs-up… and almost hitting King Kittan on the way past. The blunette wasn't going to admit that Viral had a point about the big differences. He frowned, reaching back to feel behind him. "This seat is tilted back really far, though. How can you sit like this? Is there an adjustment somewhere?" He found a knob. "Ah, here maybe?"

The beastman started. "Hey! Don't mess with that!" He yelled. "Do you know how hard it was to get it to the right position? I had to get that Leeron to fix it there!"

"Oops." Simon gave a slightly guilty laugh. The back had already moved forward a few notches, and he tried to get it back into its original position, but it just shifted past the place it had been. "Sorry," he said sheepishly, and turned as the entrance slid open and Viral climbed inside, growling. The human half moved and was half-shoved as much to the side as he could be as the other man tried to readjust the seat. After a few minutes of struggling with the mechanism, Viral gave up.

"Thanks a lot, stupid ape." He slumped back and aimed a kick at Simon, who caught his leg and pulled him forward a little.

"No need to make such a big deal out of it. You can just have it fixed tomorrow."

"You're not the one who has to ride it." The beastman folded his arms and glared. Simon couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Aww, Viral. Are you pouting?"

"Never."

"I think you are."

"Then you're mistaken."

"Am I?" He leaned forward with a grin, wrapping his arm around the other man's neck and mussing the long blonde hair. "Poor little Viral's seat is all messed up." With an angry noise that sounded like a cat getting its tail stepped on, the beastman writhed in his grasp, trying to escape. And then-

"Ow!" Simon pulled back, pushing up the sleeve of his coat. "Did you just bite me?" Sure enough, a few little pinpricks of blood lined across his forearm.

"Hn. You asked for it," Viral replied, sounding a little bit smug. The human wasn't going to let that pass. As he looked down at the blonde, a radical idea came to his mind. It wasn't the first time he'd been seized by this impulse, but now it seemed so tangible, so much harder to resist…

Eh, why not?

Viral frowned as a strange expression crossed Simon's face, but he didn't have time to think about it, because a moment later the boy was leaning over him and their mouths were pressed together hard. For a moment he was immobile with shock, but he recovered quickly and twisted his large fingers into blue hair, pushing against the back of Simon's head and growling. He wasn't going to lose at this game, too. Or at least, that was what he told himself, despite the fact that his heart had sped up a little too much for simple stubbornness.

The human pushed past Viral's lips and got nipped again for his efforts, but after a moment Viral's tongue was shoving back against his, not willing to yield easily. Simon moved forward, positioning himself less awkwardly above the blonde and pulling the ragged cloak and scarf from his shoulders, revealing the equally tattered red uniform of so long ago. He broke the kiss for a moment and they stared at each other as they caught their breath. Unspoken consent hung in the air between them, and then they were back at each other, a sense of urgency now in their movements.

Simon pulled open the jacket, taking a moment to admire the many scars and regretting his own inability to leave any marks. Viral looped an arm around the human's waist and pulled him down, pressing their bodies together, giving a purr as the boy rubbed against him and licked at his neck. He reached up and tugged the coat back over Simon's shoulders, nipping at the flesh that was exposed as he did so.

It was getting hotter in the small compartment. The air was filled with panting and rough moans as the two men moved against each other, bodies burning. Viral's claws dug into the skin of Simon's back, leaving thin red trails, and Simon thrust harder into his co-pilot, biting at the base of the beastman's neck even though he knew it would heal over immediately. He moved in a frantic rhythm, and only when Viral cried out, arching up and scrabbling at his shoulders, did he release, slumping forward with a shudder and a cry of his own.

With a satisfied sigh, Simon pulled out, brushing his hair out of his eyes as he sat up and caught his breath. He looked over at his companion, equally disheveled, and smiled as Viral composed himself.

"Well… I don't think the _back_ of the seat is going to be the problem now, huh?"


End file.
